holmes' credibility in this six hours and the republicans' approach to david holmes' credibility? >> well, lawrence, i can tell you just like people before him, you know, he has served all over the world. you know, he is is a person of integrity. i did not, you know, judge -- i did not judge or see any reason to question, you know, his truthfulness. and again, the fact he showed up says a lot about who he is compared to so many people who have chosen to defy us. and i don't expect there to be any issues with his integrity or credibility. >> the opening statement i think has many things that are striking, but one thing about it is it's very clear that david holmes is saying that he didn't see himself as a witness in these proceedings until he heard republicans complaining repeatedly about hearsay. and he realized that what he has to say is not hearsay. he was a witness physically present listening to these words exactly as they were spoken. was there any explaining about hearsay in this deposition today? >> i did not hear them say anything about that, lawrence. however, the best ev

to set the context, david holmes, a political counselor at the u.s. embassy in ukraine is talking about coming out of a meeting with ukrainian president zelensky. as i was leaving the meeting i was told to join the meeting with ambassador sondland and mr. yermak a top official in zelensky's team as a note taker. i had not expected to join the meeting and was a flight of stairs behind ambassador sondland. when i reached the office ambassador sondland had already gone in. i explained to the assistant i was supposed to join the meeting as the embassy's representative but she told me ambassador sondland and mr. yermak insisted the meeting be one-on-one with no note taker. i wanted in the ante room along with a member of ambassador sondland's staff. we accompanied sondland into an embassy vehicle. ambassador sondland said that he wanted to go for lunch. i told ambassador sondland i would be happy to join if he wanted to brief me on the meeting and discuss other issues and ambassador sondland said that i could join. the two staffers joined as well. the four

holmes' credibility in this six hours and the republicans' approach to david holmes' credibility? >> well, lawrence, i can tell you just like people before him, you know, he has served all over the world. you know, he is is a person of integrity. i did not, you know, judge -- i did not judge or see any reason to question, you know, his truthfulness. and again, the fact he showed up says a lot about who he is compared to so many people who have chosen to defy us. and i don't expect there to be any issues with his integrity or credibility. >> the opening statement i think has many things that are striking, but one thing about it is it's very clear that david holmes is saying that he didn't see himself as a witness in these proceedings until he heard republicans complaining repeatedly about hearsay. and he realized that what he has to say is not hearsay. he was a witness physically present listening to these words exactly as they were spoken. was there any complaining about hearsay in this deposition today? >> i did not hear them say anything about that, lawrence. however, the best e

now he has a major conflict in his testimony with david holmes. he never said a word about this cell phone call and said he had no additional communication that wasn't included in his testimony. this is very clearly -- the david holmes' testimony is a very clear contradiction of that. where do you see the possible legal jeopardy at this time >> gordonb sondland has the opportunity to come forward. as a prosecutor i've presented to juries a lot of witness withes like gordon sondland. not necessarily forthcoming the first time they're asked to recall something that happened. but over time for a variety of reasons, usually because they want to do the right thing evolve and give the full version of the truth. mr. sondland i hope comes forward and gives us the information. the integrity of this process is relying on that. >> congressman eric swalwell, thank you for joining us after this very long day. i really appreciate it. thank you. >>> here is rudy giuliani's i entry einto the impeachment inquiry today. at one point someone wondered allowed why mr.

david holmes told the truth. the code word investigate burisma, that was kocode for investigating biden. david holmes said he didn't have access to his notes so he wasn't as clear as he could have been. that left an opening for the republicans. >> the timing throughout this story is interesting and notable. the call to the ukrainian president, the famous july phone call happened within 24 hours of robert mueller finishing his testimony on the hill. the general view on the hill was it was not as much as expected.

he attended david holmes' under oath deposition. also joining us, jonathan alter, columnist for "the daily beast" and msnbc political analyst covering his second impeachment. he was a younger man for that first one. >> that is correct. >> and norm ornstein, congressional historian at the american enterprise inter-stuut. and norm has watched all three of these impeachments that we've had from nixon forward. congressman heck, let me ask you about this deposition we're getting. it was dramatic enough on friday night when we read the opening statement in which he describes this phone call so clearly, but seeing the testimony that chairman schiff took him through and hearing his explanation of why he remembers it so vividly is all -- all the more powerful, and i couldn't find in the transcript, and correct me if i'm wrong, i could not find any republican members in any way shaking david holmes on anything about that phone call. >> not for one nanosecond, lawrence. >> what do you make of david holmes' general credibility about the range o

he attended david holmes' under oath deposition. also an msnbc political analyst covering his second impeachment. he was a younger man for that first one in the 1970s. >> that is correct. >> and norm lowenstein has watched all three of these impeachments from nixon forward. let me ask you about this deposition we're getting. it was dramatic enough on friday night when we read the opening statement in which he describes this phone call so clearly. but seeing the testimony that chairman schiff took him through and hearing his explanation of why he remembers it so vividly is all the more powerful. and i couldn't find in the transcript, and correct me if i'm wrong, i could not find any republican members in any way shaking david holmes on anything about that phone call. >> not for one nanosecond, lawrence. >> what do you make of david holmes' general credibility about the range of his testimony? >> i thought he was an excellent witness. frankly, his revelation was jaw-dropping, namely that the president said words to the effect, so ther

holmes and david hale. david holmes being that diplomatic official in ukraine who overheard, who says he overheard the president's phone call with the eu ambassador gordon sondland. you were just talking about some of this a few moments ago. heard the president asking gordon sondland about investigations. that testimony from david holmes is expected to be released any moment and, also, testimony from david hale. he is a state department official. he has been notable in all of this because he apparently heard some of the concerns that were expressed by other officials about the role that rudy guiliani the president's personal attorney was playing in all of this missiles for misinformation scheme that was going on and being conducted by members of the trump administration and allegedly by the president, himself. so we should be getting some of that testimony shortly and be able to go through some of that and be able to read some of the revelations we were hearing about last friday when some of that came down.

holmes and david hale. david holmes being that diplomatic official in ukraine who overheard -- who says he overheard the president's phone call with eu ambassador gordon sondland. you were just talking about some of this a few moments ago. heard the president asking gordon sondland about investigations. that testimony from david holmes is expected to be released any moment and also testimony from david hale. he's a state department official. he has been notable in all of this because he apparently heard some of the concerns that were expressed by other officials about the role that rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney, was playing in all of this missiles for misinformation scheme that was going on and being conducted by members of the trump administration and allegedly by the president himself. so we should be getting some of that testimony shortly and be able to go through some of that and be able to read some of the revelations we were hearing about last friday when some of that came down. and

hale and david holmes. back with me, phil mattingly, john dean, catherine rampell, and max boot. so, phil, the other testimony out tonight is state department official david hale. what are we learning? >> yes. one the things i've been struck by in reading more pages of depositions than i ever wanted to in the history of my life is how when you go through these depositions of individuals who may have worked together but didn't know each other that well, worked in different agencies, different parts of the government, how much specific details line up with one another. on this specific issue, david hale talking about the freeze of the u.s. security assistance to ukraine. he says, quote, and i advocated strongly for resuming the assistance as did every other agency represented there with the exception of one, which was the omb. and the question it asks, and did you have confidence that the aid would be ultimately released? he responded, well, omb said that when asked by someone, perhaps charles kupperman, who

in fact, david holmes is right now talking behind closed doors. we've learned he's the aide bill ta r lor referenced in his testimony wednesday who overheard the phone call that sondland took after a kiev restaurant on july 26th where the president allegedly asked about investigations and wolf, it is just the latest in the rapid succession of closed door and public testimony. there's more closed door testimony tomorrow then of course next week. there are those eight witnesses testifying in public. >> yeah, it's going to be a very, very significant, indeed. perhaps totally critical. thanks very much. president trump meanwhile is citing freedom of speech. as democrats him of witness intimidation with his twitter attack on the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine while she was testifying. let's go to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. some of the president's allies may think he made a significant mistake. >> that's right. a clearly frustrated president trump defended his tweet aimed at yovanovitch argued he had the right to free speech as

david holmes, political counsel at the u.s. embassy in ukraine. a detailed statement that goes through a number of things. not just the explosive meeting on wednesday but also details about his concerns and the concerns of others in his office about the withholding of u.s. security aid including the possibility that john bolton thought a meeting with trump and making president trump happy was the only way it could be released but also goes into detail about some of the issues they were facing that you heard a lot about today from marie yovanovitch and that is specifically related to rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney. at one point in his testimony, he says, quote, someone wondered aloud why mr. giuliani was so active in the media with respect to ukraine. my recollection is that ambassador sondland stated, damn it, rudy, every time rudy gets involved, he goes and f's everything up. it's something you'll hear a lot of next week when ambassador gordon sondland testifies but it also underscores in this very detailed and i would argue ver

holmes, who testified behind closed doors late today. >> that closed-door deposition of david holmes that started this afternoon just ended about six hours after it started, going late into the night tonight. david holmes' opening statement has been obtained by nbc news, and it has rocked washington. >> just what exactly did mr. holmes see, what did he hear, and what did he do? you know, that was the reason we called him in today. >> the president's defenders have repeatedly said that this is all hearsay, that none of the witnesses have actually heard the president's own voice. now along comes this career foreign service officer, a professional, david holmes, and he says, no, i did hear the president's own voice. >> breaking news here, capitol hill moments ago. that's mark sandy, he works at office of management and budget at the white house, making his way to a secure facility within the capitol for his testimony he's going to deliver to lawmakers behind closed doors today. >> let's go now to the very latest developments of the day with our team of reporters and analysts, and we'll

now, david holmes is a career foreign service officer. we heard about him for the first time though not by name at the first public impeachment hearing that happened this week when ambassador bill taylor broke this surprise news. >> last friday a member of my staff told me of events that occurred on july 26th in the presence of my staff at a restaurant, ambassador sondland called president trump and told him of his meetings in kyiv. the member of my staff could hear president trump on the phone asking ambassador sondland about the investigations. ambassador sondland told president trump that ukrainians were ready to move forward. following the call with president trump, the member of my staff asked ambassador sondland what president trump thought about ukraine. ambassador sondland responded that president trump cares more about the investigations of biden, which giuliani was pressing for. at the time i gave my deposition on october 22nd, i was not aware of this information. i am including it here for completeness. >> so we learn of that s

now, david holmes is a career foreign service officer. we heard about him for the first time, though not by name, at the first public impeachment hearing that happened this week when ambassador bill taylor broke this surprise news. >> last friday, a member of my staff told me of events that occurred on july 26th. in the presence of my staff at a restaurant, ambassador sondland called president trump and told him of his meetings in kyiv. the member of my staff could hear president trump on the phone asking ambassador sondland about the investigations. ambassador sondland told president trump the ukrainians were ready to move forward. following the call with president trump, the member of my staff asked ambassador sondland what president trump thought about ukraine. ambassador sondland responded that president trump cares more about the investigations of biden, which giuliani was pressing for. at the time, i gave my deposition on october 22nd, i was not aware of this information. i'm including it here for completeness. >> so we learn of tha

now, david holmes is a career foreign service officer. we heard about him for the first time though not by name at the first public impeachment hearing that happened this week when ambassador bill taylor broke this surprise news. >> last friday a member of my staff told me of events that occurred on july 26th in the presence of my staff at a restaurant. ambassador sondland called president trump and told him of his meetings in kiev. the member of my staff could hear president trump on the phone asking ambassador sondland about the investigations. ambassador sondland told president trump that ukrainians were ready to move forward. following the call with president trump, the member of my staff asked ambassador sondland what president trump thought about ukraine. ambassador sondland responded that president trump cares more about the investigations of biden, which giuliani was pressing for. at the time i gave my deposition on october 22nd, i was not aware of this information. i am including here for completeness. >> so we learn of that stor

david holmes is a political counsellor at the u.s. embassy in ukraine he will testify alongside her he says that he overheard a cold between donald trump and some glue and the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. in which the president asked the diplomats if ukraine would investigate the bidens let's go live now to what the the capital of this is how the job castro is just outside the chambers where today's impeachment inquiry will begin what will wait just run through for us what we're expecting to hear today. sure adrian so the testimony this morning from the yonah hill who is a former member of the national security council she was the ukrainian and russian expert there she in a sense is really a stand in for her boss john bolton the former national security adviser to the president who has thus far refused to comply with any efforts to bring him forward for testimony now the hill has said previously and in the closed door hearings that have already occurred that bolton called this shadow diplomacy channel in his words a drug deal and that

in addition to that we get new testimony from david holmes that when the u.s. embassy in kiev when that stuff there at the embassy put together a package of actual anti-corruption efforts to pitch to the trump white house to try to persuade president trump that he should schedule a white house meeting with the ukrainian president, turns out those generic nonspecific not individually targeted anti-corruption efforts that they were preparing and that they were pitching to the president, those were of no interest to president trump. quote, within a week or two it became apparent that the anti-corruption efforts on which we were making progress were not making a dent in terms of persuading the white house to schedule a meeting between the presidents. turns out the trump white house wasn't interested in pursuing the anti-corruption stuff. they just wanted investigations into joe biden, right? and that is very damning testimony. if the defense of the president relies on the idea that he really is all about anti-corruption efforts, and that was really what he was tryi

one of whom, david holmes, a u.s. diplomat in ukraine, he overheard president trump ask sondland about the investigation into the bidens during a cell phone call, in a restaurant in kiev. he told lawmakers, he never saw anything like it. a source tells cnn, that several republicans were shaken by his testimony. this is after the president is diskissing some of the aides who have testified against him. want to begin with suzanne malveaux live on thrill. four witnesses in what could be the most contentious day yet. >> the energy in the room, as the media is setting up for their marathon day. you can see four witnesses testifying. all of this coming late last night. there's transcripts released of previous testimony. damning testimony, spoking holes into trump and his arguments. four key witnesses will take the stand today, starting with alexander vindman and jennifer williams. vindman testified last month, he raised concerns to the top national security council lawyer, within hours of the call. >> a former air force pil

cnn has a copy of the opening statement from david holmes. okay? we're going to tell you how it all went down. it is full of evidence, evidence that is devastating for this president. so let me set the scene for you. holmes describes a lunch on july 26th, the day after the infamous ukraine call. sondland, holmes, two staffers sitting on an outdoor terrace in kiev and sharing a bottle of wine. sondland calls the president to give him an update. now, this is from page 6 of holmes' opening statement and i quote here. while ambassador sondland's phone was not on speakerphone, i could hear the president's voice through the earpiece of the phone. the president's voice was very loud and recognizable. and ambassador sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time presumably because of the loud volume. okay, that was from page 6. the president's loud recognizable voice easily heard from sondland's phone in the middle of a restaurant terrace. but just listen to what comes next here, okay? he goes onto say, i heard ambassador sondland greet the

fiona hill and david holmes. dr. fiona hill is a former deputy assistant to the president and senior director for europe and russia on the national security council. before returning to government she was a senior fellow heershe directed the center on the united states and europe. she previously worked at the national security col, eurasia foundation and the john f. kennedy school of government. david holmes is the political counsellor at the u.s. embassy in kyiv where he serves as the adviser to ambassador taylor who testified earlier in these hearings. he is a career foreign service officer. he has previously served in moscow, new delhi, kabul and bogota. he has served on the national security council as special assistant to the united states secretary of state. two final points before our witnesses are sworn. first witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will be held at the unclassified level. any information that may touch on classified information will be add

david holmes heard it. it sounds as if there was one other person at the table that heard it. >> we understand there may have been at least one other and there was four total. >> clearly bad judgment to do a call like that in public. >> i think everybody can agree on that. thank you all very much. >>> next president trump making a mysterious trip to walter reid hospital. the white house saying there's no issue at all. so does it add up? a state that trump barely one. now voters are weighing in on whether or not he should be impeached. >> i don't think it's a witch hunt. i don't think it's a waste of taxpayer dollars. i think we need to go through this. about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say "thank you, real people." you're welcome. we're gonna need a bigger room. with sofi, get your credit cards right- by consolidating your credit card debt

steve castor, the council for the republicans, will pose questions to fiona hill and david holmes, the witnesses, along with devin nunes. then the house will be done with wood and probably until early december. your members will be out of town for thanksgiving, so they should be able to forge ahead than with that second round of 5-minute questions where they toggle through the 21 members on both sides of the aisle. the other issue is how democrats and republicans portray this over the break. which side is up, which site is down? most importantly, which narrative scripts with the public. which narrative sticks? to be have any polling that comes out over thanksgiving? is this a conversation over turkey and stuffing and apple pie that sinks giving dinnertable is a source of argument over the recess? we don't know. the waltham set the die. nancy pelosi indicated that the nixon impeachment took much longer, when she was asked about this was why this was "taking so long." it's unclear whether they will go down that road, but when the intelligence committee is done, this being the final poten

david holmes is thoughtful and detail- detail-orient detail-oriented. he indicates the president didn't care about russian aggression in ukraine, he was singularly focused on his own needs. this is a firsthand account from a career foreign service officer. and ambassadors don't typically have a direct line to the president of the united states for many reasons. one of which is that the information is vetted by the secretary of state, by the white house, goes through a sort of process. ambassador sondland was able to just pick up the phone, talk to the president of the united states, and in quite a cavalier way, in an open setting, saying the president is only focused on himself. >> michael, doesn't the argument from the administration, from many republicans, that none of the testimony thus far has been firsthand knowledge, doesn't that go away now? >> it went away when they released the transcript of the july 25th call, because out of the mouth of the president came the explicit request for the quid pro quo. the second thing, of course, is that sondland

david holmes, an aide to the top u.s. diplomat to ukraine, bill taylor, confirming in his opening statement to congress that he overheard president trump talking about a possible probe of the bidens by ukraine with the eu ambassador gordon sondland. it is a call, of course, president trump says he does not recall. it also appeared to contradict trump on how well he knows sondland. so in this testimony, holmes says, quote, after the call, ambassador sondland remarked that the president was in a bad mood as the ambassador sondland stated was often the case early in the morning which is very odd considering trump has claimed he hardly knew sondland once sondland changed his testimony to say that there was a quid pro on ukraine. >> let me just tell you, i hardly know the gentleman, but this is the man who said there was no quid pro quo. >> out front now, our national correspondent, jim sciutto, laura coats and david axelrod who was senior adviser to president trump and host of "the axe files" on cnn. let's just start with thi

he was part of three amigos we have from david holmes'. the sondland picking up the phone in a restaurant in kiev and getting the president of the united states on the phone and getting instructions from him, which is remarkable from a security perspective. but the fact that anyone can get the president on the cell phone is remarkable as well. so sondland is going to be important. let's not forget tuesday we'll hear from colonel vindman. on thursday we're going to get fiona hill testifying as well. that's an important one because fiona hill was in the meetings that sondland had with ukrainian officials where she left it. actually, john bolton cut short the meeting, told fiona hill to report those conversations to the national security council lawyers, and then fiona hill followed sondland where he continued to make the demands of ukrainians. the whole of this testimony, i think, will continue to fill out this picture, but i think it will then show even more why it's important to hear from people like john bolton, mick mulvaney, pompeo, giu

david holmes testifying to that under oath, but there's more, okay? after the call ended, ambassador sondland remarked that the president was in a bad mood, as ambassador sondland stated was often the case early in the morning. does that sound like someone the president hardly knows? >> let me just tell you, i hardly know the gentleman. >> well, you apparently knew him well enough to take a call from him and ask him about the investigations you wanted from ukraine. holmes' statement continuing -- i then took the opportunity to ask ambassador sondland for his candid impression of the president's views on ukraine. in particular i asked if it was true that the president did not give a s, or-ish about ukraine. ambassador sondland agreed that the president did not give as ish about ukraine, and i asked why not, and ambassador sonde lend said that the president only cares about big stuff. i noted that there was big stuff going on in ukraine, and he meant big stuff that benefited the president. the conversation moved on to other topics. >> that couldn't be m

then we have state department official david holmes. and he is the man who heard the phone call in ukraine in the restaurant on the cell phone between u.s. ambassador to the eu man of the moment yesterday gordon sondland and president trump. why does he matter? well, because that's the closest we have other than the call with the ukraine president and the u.s. president putting the idea of getting the investigations in the mouth of the president, wolf. >> it's going to be very dramatic, these two witnesses. republicans as you know, they're still scrambling yesterday's very, very damning testimony by the ambassador gordon sondland. sources say the white house and republican lawmakers were blind sided after sondland directly implicated the president and top officials in the administration to pressure ukraine to open investigations into the bidens. joining us now to discuss this and more, jim sciutto and jamie gengel and david gregory. so, you know, going into sondland's testimony yesterday, he had one version in his deposition. then he ha

fiona hill and david holmes. hill, the chief russia expert, and holmes, you overheard sondland talking to the president about these investigations. mary bruce is up on capitol hill this morning, and dr. fiona hill expected to deliver a blistering -- a blistering attack on those who question whether it was russia who interfered in our 2016 elections. instead suggesting it's ukraine. >> reporter: george, straight off the bat, fiona hill is going to be chastising the republicans on this committee. it's a bold and rare move. she has this warning that seems aimed directly at the top republican on the committee, devin nunes. fiona hill will say that partisan politics is driving a dangerous and fictional narrative about ukraine, and she will accuse members of the committee of falsely believing and perpetuating this theory that ukraine, not russia, meddled in the u.s. election. she will warn that is a false theory perpetuated by russia, and only helps russia, and she'll ep courage the committee on focus on what really ma

gordon sondland yesterday said he wasn't a notetaker, david holmes is a notetaker. practically verbatim description of how the two tables were put together. why it's so important, if you look back at sondland's testimony, how many times did he say, i don't remember, at a very specific point in his testimony. whenever it got close to the president, donald trump, everything was very vague. to your point about these other officials coming in, and where is john bolton, you cannot lie to congress. one of the problems were these people who were first hand for mulvaney, pompeo, pence, perry, if they came to testify, nobody wants to be michael cohen sitting in jail. >> everybody stand by. we're getting new and important information about the timing for a full house vote on impeaching the president of the united states. not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got st

in addition to that we get new testimony from david holmes that when the u.s. embassy in kiev when that stuff there at the embassy put together a package of actual anti-corruption efforts to pitch to the trump white house to try to persuade president trump that he should schedule a white house meeting with the ukrainian president. turns out those generic nonspecific not individually targeted anti-corruption efforts that they were preparing and that they were pitching to the president, those were of no interest to president trump. quote, within a week or two it became apparent that the anti-corruption efforts on which we were making progress were not making a dent in terms of persuading the white house to schedule a meeting between the presidents. turns out the trump white house wasn't interested in pursuing the anti-corruption stuff. they just wanted investigations into joe biden, right? and that is very damning testimony. if the defense of the president relies on the idea that he really is all about anti-corruption efforts, and that was really what he was tryi

moore and david holmes. as the counselor for political affairs in ukraine, he works directly with taylor. one more tweet on that front. kyle griffin, and nbc news reporter. david holmes received an award in 20 14 for speaking up against the obama administrations afghanistan policy. complicatestly republican plans to paint him as a partisan. we will likely hear more about him from the days to come. we will be letting you know if and when the president tweets. president at 6:54 to. eastern, referring congressman radcliffe, the republican congressman on the house intelligence committee, asking the two star witnesses, where is the impeachable event in that call? both stared straight ahead with a blank look on their face. host: this, from carol, sent us a text message. she writes " the democrats into witnesses acted with purpose, and professionally. to get to the truth from republicans. playing to an audience of one. their lord and master in the white house. all must be loyal to him and him alone. this from the n

david holmes is here with us today. he is a foreign service officer currently serving as the political counselor at the u.s. embassy in kyiv. also with us is dr. fiona hill whose job as senior director for european and russian affairs encompass the coordination of u.s. policy towards ukraine. dr. hill left the nsc after more than two years in that position. dr. hill from washington, d.c. and mr. holmes from on the ground in kyiv. in early 2019, dr. hill became concerned by increasing prominence of raoug, the president's personal lawyer. her boss john on bolton was also paying attention as were other state department officials, including holmes at the u.s. embassy in kyiv. bolton knew giuliani as a hand grenade that is going to blow everybody up and powerless to prevent the former mayor from engineering former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch's firing in late april, or her recall. holmes was stunned by the intensity and consistency of media attacks on yovanovitch by name as a u.s. ambassador and the scope of

and so was david holmes. and point by point she absolutely devastated the republicans until at some point they were making statements where they said, i really don't have any questions to ask you. she completely took apart anything. there has been no white house defense all along. there was no defense from the republican members. >> she disarmed them. she would say, well, i kind of -- i agree with you on that. we're all against russia aggression. i agree with you on that. look, she took a meat ax to republican conspiracy theories in a brilliant way, i thought, by -- she's a russia expert, she is a putin scholar, she has written a book about putin, and in her own way she took about -- she said, look, folks, ukraine is not the bad guys. russia is the bad guys here. they were the bad guys doing the work and all the conspiracy theories, she said, are a fictional narrative that is exactly what russia wants you to believe. it is in their interest to have you believe that ukraine was doing all of these nefarious thi

we've learned that aid is david holmes. he is a career foreign service officer who's scheduled to tell his story behind closed doors on friday. and there's more from bill taylor. >> following the call with president trump, the member of my staff asked sondland what president trump thought about ukrain, he respaunlded that president trump cared more about the investigations of biden which giuliani was pressing for. >> that is the kind of thing that would be disturbing to a career diplomat. a president who cares less about an ally than he does about investigations that can help him politically here at home. and let's not forget the campaign to force ukrain into investigations have lead to a lot of dead kadicated professio to be smeared. but even facing congress himself, bill taylor and george kent both stood up for their colleagues who have been maligned. porous >> i would like to conclude my opening remarks with an observation about some of my fellow public servants who have come under personal attacks. yovanovitch, hill. th

david holmes, a diplomat from the ukraine in the sea. fiona hill, elish-born, who has risen to the heights of the national security council. she went after rshublicans who a conspiracy theory that it was ukraine who interfered in the 2016 election to do down t donamp. dr. hill: based on questions ane statements i h heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that russia and i security services did not conduct a campaign against our t country, and trhaps somehow for some reason ukraine did. iss a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the russian security services themsves. jon: david holmes had overheard a call between the eu ambassador and the president in which donad trump was only interes in hearing whether the ukrainians were going to dish the dirtn his political rival joe biden and his son hunter, who is the director of a ukrainian gas company. mr. holmes:do i asked ambas sondland if it was true that the expletive about ukraine.n ambassador sondland aeed, the president did not give an expletive ab

embassy official david holmes. he has described first-hand knowledge of that call between the president and eu ambassador gordon sondland. how damaging is this development for the president and his defenders? >> one thing important to note is that the president's defenders have repeatedly said that this is all hearsay. this is all second-hand information. that none of the witnesses have actually heard the president's own voice say that he was demanding an investigation of joe biden. now along comes this career foreign service officer, a professional, david holmes and he says, no, i did hear the president's own voice and i heard it on july 26th. i was working in ukraine, in the embassy and i was with ambassador gordon sondland when he spoke to the president by phone. the president was speaking loud enough so people in the restaurant could hear from gordon sondland's cell phone. he said i heard the president say how are those investigations going? and sondland reassured the president that yes, president zelensky is g

david holmes, the u.s. diplomat in ukraine. he's the person who overheard president trump asking ambassador sondland about the investigation into joe biden during that loud cell phone call in a kyiv restaurant. he told lawmakers he was stunned by that call. he'd never seen anything like it he said. a source tells cnn serl republicans were shaken by what holmes had to say. all of this as cnn learns that mr. trump has considered dismissing aides who testified against him. suzanne malveaux is live on capitol hill with our top story. >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. at this very moment capitol police are huddled inside that room as they get ready for a security sweep. we are three hours away from those four witnesses testifying, key witnesses, all of this following late last night when new transcripts release damning testimony, new testimony that poke major holes in trump and his allies' arguments. >> four key witnesses will take the stand today starting with lieutenant colonel alexander vindman and jennifer williams who both lis

first, your takeaways today with fiona hill and david holmes. what stood out to you? >> two more incredibly impressive public servants. look at dr. hill's story. the daughter of coal miners, comes to this country believing in its promise, saying my working class accent never got in the way, and look at her success. and she knew right from wrong. and she went and reported what she saw and, boy, she demonstrated clarity and courage today and david holmes, same thing. that's a guy who understood what his duty was, stepped forward and sapd, i have the direct evidence people are complaining is missing, and i'm going to come give it. and of course, they come on the heels of people like lieutenant colonel vindman and ambassador yovanovitch and bill taylor, military heroes, distinguished members of the foreign service, all telling a story at risk to their own professional careers. it was an extraordinary week, and we're grateful to all of them. >> i want to play something actually that happened yesterday. you in a question you had with ambassador sondland in response you had

david holmes, john bolton took an oath of office. every member hearing the committee took that oath of office. it's essentially the same oath the president takes. it is an oath to defend the constitution of the united states. it is not an oath to a person, not an oath to a party. it's an oath to the constitution, an oath to defend the constitution. i took that same oath when i served on the staff of the united states senate. and if you took that oath and you understood that oath and you truly believe in that oath to defend the constitution, you had to be filled with pride today to watch two people living up to that oath under intense pressure at the witness of today's impeachment hearing. what you saw at that witness table was true faith and allegiance. true faith and allegiance to the constitution. our first guest tonight congresswoman val demings took that oath, and she had this to say to david holmes and fiona hill. >> policies change, but u.s. interests don't. at least not for those true public servants who are committed and dedi

diplomat david holmes, both witnesses raising alarms today about the conduct they witnessed between the trump administration and ukraine, namely the conditioning of both military aid and a white house meeting on a commitment from the ukrainians into those investigations designed to hurt the bidens, a smear campaign against ukraine ambassador marie yovanovitch who was apparently standing in the way. the conduct of both of today's witness witnesses, they believed lives could be jeopardized in ukraine. here is some of the dramatic testimony of fiona hill and david holmes. >> the barrage of allegations directed against ambassador yovanovitch, a career ambassador, is unlike anything i have seen in my professional career. i heard ambassador sondland say to the president, yes, he was in ukraine, and went on to say that president zelensky, quote, loves your ass. i then heard president trump ask, so he's going to do the investigation? ambassador sondland replied that he's going to do it. i asked ambassador sondland that it was true that the president did not give an expletive about ukraine. amba

>> first, it's critical to lookt a david holmes' testimony. remember that we learned about him and learned about what he overheard when the current u.s. -- top u.s. diplomat in ukrainwilliam taylor said he had an aid who overheard his rnversation. so this has beelly burke lating and people have been thinking about this for a long time. so the white has been having a long time to prepare itself to say, hey, look, the president has not been directly implicated, and thatat the white house did today. in realtime the white house was saying a lot ovef people lot of things to say about what the president did or didn't do, buat the end of the day no one has directly linked the president as saying to anybody i needtin invation into joe biden and hunter biden in order ukraine to fete this military aid. i want to read to you a white house atement that sums it up. stephanie grisham, the white house press secretary said, these two witnesses, just like e rest, have no personal or direct knowledge regarding why u.s. aid ways temporar withheld. the democrats

today, fiona lihill, a former t official will testify, along with david holmes. holmes, you'll remember, overheard that phone call between sondland and president trump at a restaurant in kiev. hill says that

fiona hill and david holmes. dr. hill is a former deputy assistant tout the president an director for russia and europe on the security council. sheec was a senior fellow at th brookings institution where she directed the center on the united states and europe. she also worked at the intelligence council and the john f.nd kennedy school of government. david holmes is the political counsellor at the embassy in kiev where he is stationed with officer taylor. she a career foreign service officer, he has served on the staff of the national security council as has specispecial ass. to final points before the witnesses arefo sworn. first witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all opentu hearings are held at the unclassified level. any informationun that may touc unclassified information will be addressed separately. secondly, congress will not toleratel a reprisal, threat o reprisal for any official for testifying before congress including you andef any of your colleagues. if you would

there are real consequences for him down the line. >> holmes, david holmes who testified friday, he said he was a note taker for the meeting that you and senator ron johnson had with zelensky of ukraine. holmes testified that senator johnson told zelensky he was shocked by president trump's negative view of ukraine that zelensky, in his view, would have a difficult time overcoming. what was zelensky's response to johnson telling him that the president, president trump, had a negative view of ukraine? >> well, you know, we walk into the meeting and normally you engage in diplomatic formalities at the beginning. that's not how the meeting went. zelensky launched into the question about the security aid. and desperately wanted our help and advice how to turn the aid back on. so part of the meeting was about trying to he trying to help him secure a meeting with the president to help the aid flow once more. i reminded him it won't help ukraine for them to get involved in american elections and he shouldn't be listening to giuliani's corrupt request and he agreed. he understood that ukraine ne

and republicans pushing back on fiona hill, as you reported there, also on david holmes. asking how he could have understood what the president was saying if he wasn't on the phone call himself. the president tweeting the same thing today, claiming it would have been impossible to hear him. >> reporter: david, holmes was clear. he could hear the president. he says this was a very distinctive experience, something he would not forget, overhearing the president of the united states discussing something holmes had been working on for months. and while the president is questioning this, sondland himself does not dispute holmes' recollection of that phone call. david? >> mary bruce leading us off again tonight. mary, thank you. >>> as you heard mary report there, the president tweeting about david holmes, who says he heard the president on that phone call at a restaurant in ukraine, but the president was quiet on dr. fiona hill, at least publicly. but here's what we do know tonight. the president today invited some key republican senators to the white house for a lunch. so, le

fiona hill and david holmes. dr. fiona hill is a former deputy assistant to the president and senior director for europe and russia on the national security council. before returning to government, she was a senior fellow at the brookings institution where she directed the center on the united states and europe. she previously worked at the national intelligence council, the eurasia foundation and john f. kennedy school of government. david holmes is the political counselor at the u.s. embassy in kyiv where he's the senior policy and political adviser to ambassador taylor who testified earlier in these hearings. he is a career foreign service officer. he has previously served in moscow, new delhi, kabul, bogota and pristina. he's also served on the staff of the national security council as his special assistant -- as special assistant to the united states secretary of state. two final points before our witnesses are sworn. first, witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature. and all open he

david holmes, fiona hill, john bolton took an oath of office. every member hearing their testimony took an oath of ofls. it is essentially the same oath the president takes. it is an oath to dee fend the constitution of the united states. it's not an oath to a person, not an oath to a party. it's an oath to the constitution. an oath to defend the constitution. i took that same oath when i served on the staff of the united states senate. and if you took that oath and you understood that oath and you truly believe in that oath, to defend the constitution, you had to be filled with pride today to watch two people living up to that oath under intense pressure at the witness table in today's impeachment inquiry hearing. what you saw at that witness table was true faith and allegiance. that's another line in the oath. true faith and allegiance to the constitution. our first guest tonight, congressman val demmings, took that oath, and she had this to say to david holmes and fiona hill. >> policies change, but u.s. interests don't. at least not for thos

and david holmes. he is the official that overheard that trump phone call with sondland, where he heard trump say he did not care about ukraine, but rather the so-called big stuff like investigating the bidens. >> he specifically remembered that the bidens were brought up in that discussion, which is interesting and contradicts something that gordon sondland says. suzanne, thank you. >>> this morning, what is the impact of gordon sondland's testimony? and what does it mean for some of the other proposed witnesses who have refused to show up? we'll tell you about all the implications that are developing this morning, next. ( ♪ ) introducing the marilyn monroe collection of fine jewellery. exclusively at zales, the "diamonds are a girl's best friend" store. exclusively at zales, i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424. too shabby! too much! i can rent this? for that price? absolu